Tuesday, September 18, 2012

CD Review: New Music From New York Artists Generator Ohm And Vajra

From New York comes the trio of Ernest D’amaso, Willie Chen and Mikopolis Morales known as Generator Ohm. Their debut album, “Upon The Me Om I” was recently released and a second album is already in production. Their music combines the grunge of the nineties with a futuristic, electronic rock sound that sounds almost like a new progressive rock movement.

The quick pace of the album’s opening song “Lemming Shuffle” shows the great musicianship this trio has. You instantly notice the different fills as the music never contains any gaps. When the band pushes their songs past the five-minute mark as in “They Can See Us” and “First Encounters of the Worst Kind” is when their sound becomes more experimental and sounds unlike anyone else. Their shorter songs like “Smoke Eater” and “Marginal Hop” draws in parts of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Soundgarden which give their songs a more familiar sound.

Generator Ohm recently performed in Brooklyn, NY and currently has no further dates on the schedule. Please visit http://www.reverbnation.com/generatorohm to find out more about this rising underground band.

Also from New York comes Vajra with a melodic hard rock sound similar to Lacuna Coil, but with a touch more of a progressive metal feel. Their debut album, “Pleroma” was released back in June with a show at The Bowery Electric in New York.

The vocals of Annamaria Pinna are mesmorizing in the opening song “Inside The Flame.” The band rocks with the addition of some Middle-Eastern influences in the song “Intuition.” The song “Blind” has a lot of mainstream rock appeal, while Pinna gives her strongest vocal performance in “3.14.” The album closes with the eight-minute epic “The Apple,” which shows once again that this band can rock as they blast out the chorus.

Vajra just performed at The Roxy in Los Angeles, CA and at The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn, NY. They currently have no other live dates scheduled at the moment, but be sure to check out thevajratemple.com for updates.